Posts filed under ‘Not about food’

* Update on The 30 days NO sugar Challenge!… I got Sponsored!*

I prefer buying books online. It’s so convenient.

You want to hear something really stupid that I do? I browse about for hours in bookstores but end up buying online.

Maybe its not so stupid actually. First of all buying online is convenient and cheap. Second you can buy just about any book ever published. Third you get to read reviews before you buy them. Fourth you can find newer/older editions and buy what you want.. not just what’s available.

I’ve been buying books from a website called Indiplaza.in for years right from the time it was Fabmall.com. I can’t even count the number of orders I’ve placed there. They didn’t have a large collection and often the book covers would be “no image to display” but since there weren’t any other better websites, I thought it was the best.

Sometime back however I had a pretty bad experience. I ordered a book that never came. No one even contacted me about it and after a month I get a lousy apology letter and a idiotic “customer experience improvement survey” link (like that’s going to be pretty!) So I stopped buying there.

In my first sem at college in 2006 I borrowed this book from the college library Moment Of Truth: Redefining The Ceo’s Brand Management Agenda. The Biggest mistake of my life. I accidentally dropped it on the railway tracks (smart ha?) and I had to return it. They didn’t want the money! they wanted the book! Apparently it was an imported book and impossible to get. I have hunted all over the city for that book! I’ve googled it a million times and never got an Indian website that sold it.

So I ended up buying a second hand copy from barnes and nobles and the shipping was more expensive than the book. It costed me 3 months worth pocket money.

Remember Baked: New Frontiers in Baking Well I saw it on amazon and I really wanted to buy it. After my fallout with Indiaplaza.in I wasn’t going there. So I decided to google ” Baked: New frontiers + India + online book store”

flipkart.com was the first link. A new site? I suppose so but they have it! yay! I searched for more books. And more and more.. they had them all (with images and descriptions please)! OK time for the acid test… the moment of truth.. (pun not intended). I punched in the name of that damned college library book. I FOUND. THAT. BOOK.

Where were you in 2006??!

I ordered Baked and Ben&Jerry’s Ice Cream book and you know how much I’ve been raving about those books.

Now whats happening to me? whenever I go to eat something or try to photograph my food I end up clicking pics of my fingers! I’ve really lost it.

The thing is that I’ve never been a fan of long fingernails and I absolutely hate nail polish but off late I’ve been attempting to grow my finger nails and buff and polish and shine them.

Now I was supposed to be photographing the “pure magic” cookie.. can you even spot the cookie?!

Would you believe that I actually find these fingernails Long? and now that I’m looking at it, they arent even that pretty :S

But life is getting harder with long fingernails. Especially while cooking. The otehr day I sliced over my finger nail and kneading dough is such a pain. Do cooks grow their fingernails? how do they manage!

You really know you’ve grown up when your parents give you a Knives set on your birthday! so I became 20 a short while back and I got (apart from a good deal of cash to blow), a set of sharp, shiny, knives. Boy, my parents really love me 🙂

I know it is a terrible photo but its deliberate, really. A lame attempt at trying to be eerie. (don’t think it worked)

I love ordering books online. It always feels like my birthday again! happily opening gifts, even though I know what they are.

I ordered two books online:

Book No 1:

Ben and Jerry’s homemade ice-cream and dessert book!! wow you can’t go wrong when its written by Ben and Jerry themselves! Its kind of an old book since its first print came out in 1987, but who cares! its still gr8.

Book No 2:

OMG I LURVE this BOOK!!

It’s called “Baked: New frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito”Wow! these guys have a cafe in NYC and they serve these delectable delights! Oh how I would LOVE to visit their cafe!!

I cant wait to try something out from both the books! ahh I am so happy!probably happier than what was on my birthday.

Dry or fresh its just so wonderful. A mouth freshener, a recipe invigorating agent! and the lovely color. Green happens to be my favorite color and aniseed is without a doubt my favorite seed.

Aniseed is excellent to use in a marinate, I like using it with a little roasted cumin. You get a nice blend of a sharp mildly pungent flavor and a fresh zesty flavor.

When it comes to aniseed as a sweet, I love those little aniseed balls you get at candy stores but sugar coated aniseed happens to top my list, because unlike an aniseed ball you get to crunch and munch many aniseed not just one that is located inside the aniseed ball.

So I dedicate this blog post to the lovely green seed that brings freshness in my day and more importantly my breath. 😛

What is a person supposed to do with curled parsley? first of all let me tell you I am a coriander person. Coriander is soft, easy to chop and has a milder flavor

But Ugh curled parsley? its so tough it never integrates with anything I make. It always sticks out like a sore stalk or just gets stuck in you teeth. Eventually you simply chew it like a cow or place it in the corner of your plate while no one is watching.

It costs quite a buck when you buy it in those fancy gourmet packs and rots so fast in your refrigerator! why oh why do people use curled parsley?

My mum has this little potted lemon tree in the house. We’ll I thought it was a lemon tree but the other day one lemon fell off and we opened it and saw something of an orange. It takes EONS to grow and the little lemon/orange/wild citrus fruit, has been growing for nearly 3 months. It just doesn’t get any bigger!